Question NW2559 to the Minister of Health
22 October 2018 - NW2559
Lekota, Mr M to ask the Minister of Health
With reference to his comments on the alleged corrupt collusion between the State Attorney’s office and claimants of supposed malpractice in his department (details furnished), (a) what were the circumstances that resulted in this type of fraud to be committed over a protracted period of time without detection, (b) who should have been exercising oversight and (c) what measures has his department put in place to stop this type of fraud?
Reply:
The State did not pay R 60 Billion since 2013 as alleged in your statement. The figure of R 60 Billion is the contingency liability and not the actual money paid to the claimants by the State. This is the money that if proved in the Court of Law, the State will have to pay to the claimants. This will only happen if we do not detect bogus or invalid claims.
(a) The Department of Justice will be better placed to respond to this as it has oversight over the State Attorney;
(b) The State Attorney is under the Department of Justice and they report the Chief Litigation Officer. Therefore, the Department of Justice is responsible for oversight;
(c) The Department is liaising with the law enforcement agencies such as the Hawks and SAPS and other bodies such as Law Societies.
Furthermore, the Department is in the issues a transversal tender to deal with Medico-Legal Cases and with the Terms of Reference that include among others, the following:
(i) Improved co-ordination of anti-corruption initiatives with the Provincial Government; and
(ii) Investigating effectively alleged economic crime (fraud, theft and corruption) as well as maladministration.
END.